![\"Paris](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/06\/Notre_Dame_de_Paris_from_pont_de_la_Tournelle_Paris_22_March_2014.jpg\")
<\/a>(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Unfortunately, today\u2019s blog entry needs to be largely devoted to the proverbial notion that a lie can travel half-way around the world before the truth can even get its boots on. \u00a0(Appropriately enough, the saying is commonly but, it seems, falsely attributed to Mark Twain.). My boots are now laced up, so it\u2019s time to go:<\/p>\n
The imminent re-opening of Paris\u2019s landmark Notre Dame Cathedral is very much in the news, and perhaps especially so (in the United States) now that once-and-future President Donald J. Trump has been invited to attend the ceremonies.<\/p>\n
Coincidentally, I noticed just last night that the Associated Press is still peddling its false claim that the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple, which is slated to be built on the outskirts of Las Vegas, has garnered considerable opposition because it will be larger<\/em> than Notre Dame. \u00a0The Arizona Daily Star<\/em> of Tucson is just one of the many venues where, at least as recently as yesterday, that demonstrably untrue statement is being uncritically spread: \u00a0\u201cBiden pardons his son Hunter<\/a>; M<\/a>ormon church faces pushback | Hot off the Wire podcast.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0Accordingly, I judge it appropriate to repost something that I originally put up here back in October:<\/p>\n [Y]ou might also find this article from the Associated Press and its accompanying video to be of interest: \u00a0\u201cMormon faith pushes ahead with global temple building boom despite cool reception in Las Vegas\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s important to note, however, that the Associated Press report by Ken Ritter and Hannah Schoenbaum is misleading in at least one really important way: \u00a0In both its text and its video, AP falsely asserts that, if actually built, the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple will be larger than the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. \u00a0No wonder people in the neighborhood are outraged!<\/p>\n Evidently, though, and simplistically, Ritter and Schoenbaum seem to have based their claim only on square footage: \u00a0The Lone Mountain Nevada Temple is predicted, according to plans, to enclose 70,194 square feet of floor space, whereas Notre Dame has a floor area of only about 64,000 square feet.<\/p>\n When we compare other figures, though, the proposed second temple for Las Vegas turns out to be substantially smaller<\/em> than is Paris\u2019s cathedral. \u00a0For instance, the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple will be 196 feet tall at its highest point, whereas the two towers of Notre Dame\u2019s fa\u00e7ade are both 226 feet tall and its central spire reaches 315 feet.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Much more significantly, though, Notre Dame Cathedral has essentially only one floor, the ground floor, whereas I would guess from the architect\u2019s rendering of it<\/a> that the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple will include minimally four<\/em> whole or partial floors.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have figures for the length and breadth of the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple, but it\u2019s easy enough to make a rough and ready estimate of them:<\/p>\n Let\u2019s assume, very conservatively, that the new temple will have 3.5 floors \u2014 a ground-level floor for the recommend desk and offices and dressing rooms and a chapel and the like, second and third floors for sealings and other ordinances, and a half-floor underground for the baptistry. \u00a0(This is a reasonable estimate for the number of floors, based on the architect\u2019s rendering of the exterior.) \u00a0We divide the total square footage at Lone Mountain by seven and subtract one-seventh from the total because the baptistry will likely be largely if not wholly subterranean and, accordingly, will not affect the outer perimeter dimensions of the building.<\/p>\n That yields about 62,000 square feet, in total, for the three main floors, for an average of not quite 21,000 square feet per floor. \u00a0(In every case, I\u2019m rounding the numbers up so as to be as generous as possible to objections.). However, as the architect\u2019s rendering illustrates, the ground floor will be the largest<\/em> temple floor. \u00a0Let\u2019s be generous again and make it fully twice as large as the two floors above it, which would make it approximately 31,000 square feet \u2014 a figure that is very probably grossly inflated.<\/p>\n If the temple, at its base, is perfectly square \u2014 which it may<\/em> be \u2014 the length of each of its first-floor walls would be the square root of 31,000 feet, which comes out, even under the extremely generous figures that I\u2019ve used here, to just slightly more than 176 feet. \u00a0Thus, in actual fact, Notre Dame is not only considerably taller<\/em> than the temple that is proposed for northwest Las Vegas \u2014 the main structure of the cathedral, minus towers and spire, is 211 feet high, which is taller than Lone Mountain\u2019s tower<\/em> and far<\/em> taller than the single-story first-floor area of the temple \u2014 but its footprint<\/em> is substantially larger than that of the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple:<\/p>\n Notre Dame is 420 feet long and 157 feet wide, for a total perimeter of approximately 1154 feet, compared to Lone Mountain\u2019s 704 feet. \u00a0Wildly exaggerated as it almost certainly is, my estimated square footage for the first floor at Lone Mountain \u2014 31,ooo \u2014 is less than half of Notre Dame\u2019s 64,000. \u00a0And the volume enclosed within the main space of Notre Dame (roughly 13,504,000 cubic feet, a figure that I derive from multiplying the height of that main space by the square footage of its floor) is approximately eighteen times the volume of space that I estimate will be enclosed within the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple (very roundly, 750,000 cubic feet).<\/p>\n Thus, for the Associated Press to announce that the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple will be larger than the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris is grossly misleading \u2014 as anybody who has ever seen Notre Dame would immediately realize by simply glancing at the architect\u2019s rendering of the proposed temple.<\/a> \u00a0In fact, the assertion seems downright prejudicial, if not inflammatory and sensationalizing. \u00a0I don\u2019t want to accuse Ritter and Schoenbaum of any deliberate wrongdoing, so I\u2019ll simply say that their claim is plainly false and quite irresponsible. \u00a0And, since the sheer size of the building is one of the main points raised against it by its opponents, to have messed up on this particular issue is especially unfortunate.<\/p>\n From time to time here, I call attention to the remarkably consistent publication record of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> since its launch in early August 2012. \u00a0(As of last week, in addition to its blog entries and reprints and books and movies and radio broadcasts and conferences and the like, Interpreter has published at least one journal article on each of the past 645 consecutive Fridays.)<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the most important of factoids, the most significant of achievements, but it\u2019s no small thing \u2014 and it\u2019s a pretty easy way to have a little fun at the expense of the often grimly hostile folks who make it their daily obsession to denigrate Interpreter (and me) and who, as part of that obsession, have been confidently promising Interpreter\u2019s demise since within mere days of its founding.<\/p>\n Recently, one of their number accused me of lying<\/em> about Interpreter\u2019<\/em>s monotonously consistent publishing record. \u00a0This intrepid scholar counted up the Fridays that have so far elapsed in 2024 (which came to 48) and counted the articles that have appeared in Interpreter<\/em> for 2024 (which were reportedly 45). \u00a0News flash! \u00a0Comparing 48 to 45 yields a discrepancy of three! \u00a0Which proves that I\u2019m lying. \u00a0(How can you tell that I\u2019m lying? \u00a0It\u2019s simple: My heart is beating. \u00a0And, as long as I have a pulse and as long as the Peterson Obsession Board exists, I\u2019ll be lying.)<\/p>\n But The Great Discrepancy is a mystery that is easily explained. \u00a0Unfortunately, though, there must be an actual desire to understand, coupled with a basic ability to count.<\/p>\n You need only go to the website of the journal<\/a> and, once there, click on \u201cAll Journal Articles.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 You will find there a list of all Interpreter<\/em> volumes, including the year in which the volume was published. \u00a0You will notice that three volumes are shown for 2024 \u2014 volumes 60, 61, and 62. \u00a0If you count all of the articles in them, you will come up with a total not of 45 articles but of 48.<\/p>\n As it happens, we published the first article in Volume 60 on 5 January 2024. \u00a0But that was purely coincidental. \u00a0Volume 63 is already appearing, but it is dated to 2025. \u00a0Why is it dated to 2025? \u00a0Because that is the year in which it will be completed and in which it will be published as a complete whole.<\/p>\n Interpreter has published, and will have published, at least one journal article each and every Friday during the year 2024. The final article to be published for 2024 will appear on 27 December. \u00a0It will be the fifteenth article in Interpreter<\/em>\u2018s volume 63. \u00a0It will represent a total of 63 articles, published over the 52 weeks of 2024. We published one article each Friday, with the exception of 26 January, 9 February, 19 April,, 26 July, 2 August, 16 August, 27 September, 1 November, 8 November, 15 November, and 22 November, on each of which we published not just one but two<\/em> articles. \u00a0Here, for the inspection of anybody who might be interested, is the complicated math: \u00a0(41 x 1) + (11 x 2) = 63.<\/p>\n Sigh. \u00a0It requires real patience to be a teacher.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n